Show us the minutes: Health pressure to prove there was
Health Secretary Jeane Freeman is under mounting pressure to prove she did not mislead Parliament when she denied an expert group was planning the reintroduction of mesh in Scotland.
The minister last week bowed to pressure to bring a world-leading American surgeon to Scotland to help mesh victims days after we revealed they were demanding her resignation.
However, while welcoming the move, victims described mounting concern around her fierce denial to MSPS that a working party meant to have been set up to help victims had not previously met to plan how the controversial implants would be used again.
Two weeks ago, she told Parliament
that she had sanctioned no planning and insisted the so-called short-life working group had never met before. However, the groups had the same members and the same chairman and critics have demanded Freeman – who claimed a Sunday Post story revealing the plans to reintroduce mesh was “false and without foundation” – is under mounting pressure to release the minutes of meetings to prove she did not mislead MSPS.
Chief medical officer Catherine Calderwood wrote to every health board on the day the use of mesh was halted in September saying it was only a temporary suspension. She later formed a group of “accountable officers” from each board to plan the reintroduction of mesh.
Last week, the health secretary again insisted she had “not requested that any planning take place to consider the lifting of the halt” but MSPS have asked to see the minutes from the group’s meeting in February. They also asked to see minutes from the first meeting of the working group meant to have been launched to help victims.
MSP Neil Findlay said: “In Parliament two weeks ago, the health secretary could not have been more emphatic. She was absolutely adamant when she told MSPS there had been no planning for the reintroduction of mesh and that the group she claimed to have set up to help patients in April had never met before. “What we know now would suggest her statement begged more questions than they answered. “The many, many women whose lives have been broken by mesh deserve honesty and transparency.
“There is a very simple, straightforward way for the health secretary to regain their trust and that is to publish the minutes of these meetings. They will show if planning was under way for the reintroduction of mesh and they will show if these two groups were, in fact, one and the same.”
Last Sunday, mesh victims called for Ms Freeman to apologise and resign. Days later she announced she would after all try to bring worldleading mesh removal expert Dr Dionysius Veronikis to Scotland. She had previously touted her working group’s proposal that Scots medical staff should travel around the world on fact-finding trips to improve mesh removal techniques. The decision has been met with “relief” by mesh-injured women who do not believe Scots surgeons are sufficiently trained or skilled in the techniques required to fully and safely remove the polypropylene implants.
Olive Mcilroy, of Scottish Mesh Survivors, said: “We’re delighted the health secretary is bringing a worldclass surgeon here to help victims, but we still want to know exactly who sanctioned discussions in February